Show ulle wire noar noan AN AND D nulls nills TIIE tile pro rno PROPOSED poSED OF till wo WOMEN uen jen or OF aj 4 the following address was delivered before tha the Convention of the national woman guffra suffrage e association lincoln ciali was Wag washington hington DC BC wednesday starch rth 1884 and much of it was used as s an argument before the house committee commett cc on territories by mrs urs belva A Lock lockwood attorney at law TM disfranchisement of the women of utah bahas I 1 as proposed by muse vouse bill bil I 1 no 5 fag im chown as the cassidy dirl delt and the senate bill dill no 1283 reported fr arom from M the tha Judt judiciary sars dars by senator roar hoar A cas casual n al glance at the arst first named bill wo would t i id hardly excite comment so deftly has it been worded to conceal its ts real intent and purpose athas on its face a semblance of fairness n Qs by proposing that tho the fifteen which it proposes propos est esi shall be divided between democrats and republicans sit Is a republican measure with a bribe held out olit to a democratic house to sustain it and a sop thrown at a president to it it proposes to repeal every act not in harmony with it it repeals the act organizing the territory it repeals the edmunds bill it decapitates decapita tes tile tiie utah commission it breaks faith with resident citizens and attempts to bolst foist folst on them a carpetbag carpet bag government to tto eat up and destroy their substance aiwas as was done with the southern states after the war of the rebellion it is a blow struck at our civil government it congress can thus wipe out with ong one fell swoop the territorial government of utah it c can an wipe out the territorial rit orial government of wyoming W oming of washington territory of lantana montana of dakota of idaho of arizona and of new mexico desico aye under the same i authority they may disfranchise tile the recently emancipated negroes throughout the south and remand them back to their shackles shackle and to servitude but under dundei our constitution and laws this cannot be done without such pal pai able and flagrant violation of its provisions as would entitle the enactors en actors to impeachment for high treason A territory once organized a charter once a once elected a constitution S t 0 a once adopted passes out oia of ta the euttu hands d s of the parties constructing in it and is no longer under the control of the general government government so far as its annulment or repeal is concerned and it has never before been attempted by this nation when the united states congress over 33 years ago or on or about 1850 organized utah uta into a territory and gave to hera her a territorial legislature they gave to ller iler powers that they are not now able to take back they said to lier her in effect you are now of age you are arc free we give to you the portion that you have chosen of your fathers estate the public domain which you now occupy and this charter which we grant to you is your deed in fee forthe for the same take it it is yours the charter of utah has been a matter of record for over three decades many of you cannot fail to remember the historical fact of the attempt of george the third to repeal thet the harter charter of connecticut and that he sent one of his to the assembly to demand its surrender the men who founded the thirteen united colonies were made of sterling stuff one of them blew out the lights seized the charter and climbed into th the boughs of the famous charter oak which for a century graced the commons of new haven connecticut still lives but king george is in the tile forgotten past remembered only for his tyrannies tyrannizes tyr annies annles and despotism last year mr cassidy saw fit to deny that his bill at that date was a blow aimed at woman suffrage this year he makes one stronger anspro and proposes net only to take the charter but to wipe out the legislature of utah elected by the yote vote of the sovereign p people eop leot leol of th that at territory whose right it is to say who shall govern them who shall tax them and how they shall be taxed how they shall marry and be given in in mar arriage what god they shall worship and how they shall worship him what shall be con a felony or a crime against the commonwealth and how it shall be punished who shall be competent as witnesses and what shall constitute testimony it proposes to disfranchise at atone one fell swoop over voters men and women mormon and gentile jew and greek ar lor what the crimes of bl bigamy and polygamy gamy no I 1 the ed joiy joly polygamy munds bli bit Bill enacted march 22 1882 1 dis franchised every bigamist and polygamist in tile the territory of utah dis qu allilee them fron from i holding boffl office c and the commissioners who were hent bent out by the president to see that this odious kawwas law was enforced backed by a morbid public sentiment in their zeal eai eal stretched the law beyond its limits made the law retroactive and not only chased every practical polygamist in the territory and deprived such persons of office but visited the same penalty upon every man or woman who had ever abany at any time been a polygamist even esen the first wife of a mormon who of all other persons should be entitled to be considered innocent of offense alid aha finally went so far as to disfranchise women who had been 20 years in widowhood section 3 of article 9 of bf the constitution says no bill of attainder or ez ex post facto law shall be passed meaning the general government while section 10 art 1 sa says s no state shall pass any biti bili bill of attainder or facto law iau these worthy commissioners have undertaken to enforce their idea of the intent of the law and what they belleve believe the law ought to be the effect of which was to depose men from office who had bad been duly elected to positions byth by the voice evolee of the people who had committed no offense against any statute general or local originating from any government to which t they hey had claimed allegiance tile the edmunds amendment as reported by senator hoar invades the domestic relations of the people of the territory disrupts families overturns the old english common law and all of the statute lav law state or national ional tonal hitherto known know 1 1 to ibe the the tho people of this union in lt its s P provisions v 6 ions lons to compel a wife th tb testify against iii alu it her husband invades the constitution ution by permitting illegal search searches and seizures and defies ail ali law kloven known tb the genius of our constitution and government by per pen permitting I 1 mIttin the arrest qt of suspected persons without warrant of court and in compelling the attendance of witnesses without subpoena the edmunds bill now in force in that territory is worthy esworthy of the blind zeal of the days of the inquisition in n france and spain and the later bigotry of hanin han hanging in for witchcraft in new eli england lant instead instead of punishing those w who 0 alone had committed the of fence it wre wreaked wrecked aked its vengeance on de fenceless wives alvs and moti mothers lers took from them their sustenance an cc and in effect bastardized their children the mormon people between their loyalty to the union and and zeal for their church submitted to this outrage and every person suspected of bigamy or polygamy has since the of the act quietly re framed from voting but it is claimed by y the enemies of this much abused and over governed people that they evade the law and that therefore a more stringent law must be enacted we have in the nis dis disi i brict of columbia a law making larceny a felony and nave had such laws law since nce nee its organization and yet during all these years there have been here a class of persons who commett larceny although we have made larceny balous odious every state in the union has a law against murder making it a capital odense offense pu punishable niMble in so some mc states by hanging and in some by imprisonment for life and yet in every state in this union murders are committed we have in the district of columbia a law against bigamy and polygamy yea we are amenable to all of the disabilities restrictions and penalties of the edmunds bill and yet I 1 can put my finger today to day on scores of men who are evading the law by cohabiting with two or three women without the sanction of that canon of the church here a mar nage article ath of the amendment to the constitution says the right of the I 1 people to be secure in their persons houses papers paper saud sand and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated and none shall issue but on probable cause supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persa person or thing to be seized article 1st ast of the amendment to the constitution reads congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment jentof of religion or prohibiting the free iree exercise or abridging the me freedom of speech or of the press etc the legislation proposed ill in this bill no the edmunds bill and its amendment and the amendment reported by senator hoar january are all the result of a morbid public sentiment without foundation in morality justice or humanity intended to 0 oppress ressa a peaceful quiet frugal people ure uie by persons who have purposes and aim alm aims alms s of their own to further b by gentlemen who seem to believe the it eold coid old oid adage vox coz voz def lel 1 than which no greater fallacy was ever promulgated abed the danger which threatens mh utah today to day threatens wyoming and her people are taking the alarm at the meeting of the joint legislatures of the two territories at salt lake city february 15 the speaker of the house hon ron F H bjones HJ jones ones of wyoming spoke as follows we are your next door neighbors our interests are in many respects identical we are beset by common dangers engaged in common struggles encountering common difficulties and ana rejoice in common achievements mr warren spoke his thenie theme being behig that of woman suffrage which is exciting the attention of tile the assembly at wyoming and called for a vote on the su subject eject 7 let polygamy alone and it will soon cease to be with the leg legislation already enacted the young men are not likely to away dwar all opportunity f for or office for lio ilo honor norand and preferment by disobeying y in the law and tile tiie legislation herein proposed would inflict upon them the punishment of disfranchisement for no act of their own and could not in the days to come inculcate in them either elther love or respect for the power that governs them the majority of all people are law abiding unless the law becomes so oppressive that respect is impossible this law proposes a punishment has with it a penalty without with out a conviction of crime and proposes to punish the innocent with the guilty the women for the crimes of m men en it is in direct violation of the constitution ution in that it is a legislation respecting an establishment of religion the general government has nomore no more right to attack the mormon faith or to legislate with reference to it than it has to attack the methodists or catholics the mormon religion as compared with other religions religious had its origin in the same mysticisms and I 1 chimeras chimaras chi and was propagated in the same way one hundred years ago the first methodist episcopal church was organized in john street in the city of new cv york or ik with only six in members embers the believers of that doctrine today to day are counted by millions and their churches by tens of thousands efty eltty four years ears cars ago joseph smith the 3 mormon 11 prophet Iro phet had only six followers in the state of new york and those were his own relatives ile he claimed to find and translate a book abood which he called the book of mormon butwid but did not assume tobe to be its author only the medium through which I 1 it was wab ivan given to the world lie he tau taught ht talat that this book and the old ariu aria iriv new testament were the writings of inspired men ills his followers like the tiie freewill baptists took their writings as their creed and like the quakers and holy men of old spoke as they were bovea moved upon by the spirit in giso mahomet the prophet of I 1 moslem L los ios wrote the koran ile he said to his people eople if you to do not believe that tills this took book is from god see if you can write a better book today to day it is estimated that the followers of this faith number of human beings at first they met with ridicule and violent opposition so that they were forced to emigrate from mecca to abyssinia they too were polygamists failing to convert the people as rapidly as he wished mahomet resorted to compulsion and conquest and his followers used for their battle cry there is but one god and mahomet is his prophet 11 taylor lewis in speaking of this of it it be in ill fact as a lateral wave from the great tide of religious thought and feeling which came down from the earliest time of human history bearing in its mid channel the jewish theocracy and culminating in the christian church mahomet died at medina june 8 ten of his fourteen wives surviving hini him and the religion that he promulgated with all its persecutions has survived the centuries the mormons cormons have sent out their missionaries to all parts of the globe who have given their services and paid their own expenses literally preach lne lna their new gospel without purse and without scrip they believed that this coultry was tho the palestine predicted and that it was their mission to I 1 found ouila the new jerusalem and to erect in the new world its sacred temple to so secure a revenue for this purpose the they collected tithes after the old Eng english lisTl custom and agreed that the temple should be be built by the free contributions of all the members of their church but persecutions began and they were driven to ohio and from thence to missouri and then to illinois where at nauvoo they commenced to build the temple when their prophet joseph smith and his brother were murdered by a mob in six years after their settlement althis ethey had increased to persons today to day there are in the territory of utah persons while in their feeble state and surrounded by enemies they furnished men for the mexican war on the breaking out of the tho rebellion they were loyal to the union they have helped to settle our country helped to add to our territory and have pledged 11 their lives to defend it brigham young who succeeded the prophet smith ru ruled ed the church with a wise discretion largely Inc increasing reasin their numbers their thrift and prosperity the tile persecutions and murders of the members of this church and the destruction of their property did not ll 11 have 3 v c its or origin 1 g I 1 I 1 in n polygamy b but ut in religious I 1 1 u s p persecution e u ion lon as p polygamy agam was a later a t e r 0 outgrowth u T 0 vt an and d I 1 instituted e at a time when the W women m outnumbered the men to avoid these persecutions brigham young determined to lead his peg people ile tle a thousand miles away from our boasted civilization through a dreary and almost trackless desert to a spot then on mexican territory where his bis church could found their R new ew jerusalem unmolested and rebuild the holy temple on the of july 1847 he arrived with pioneers in the valley of salt lake they had surveyed and built 50 miles of road and had followed a trappers trail nearly miles this valley was then a wild so dreary that it seemed hardly possible for rell reli rellious religious ious lous persecution to enter it the adm ideal city which they saw by the eye of faith was founded the solitary place plade was made glad and the desert to blossom as |